TULANE TALK

July 13, 2007

Good Morning:

Summer has traditionally been a slow time for college campuses but activity abounds at Tulane at the present and I thought you might enjoy a little mid-summer update.

This week we welcomed our new provost, Michael Bernstein, to campus. Michael, who comes to us from the University of California at San Diego, is just one of many highly sought-after academic professionals who could work anywhere in the country but chose Tulane and New Orleans.

I wish I had space to include all the new members of the Tulane community who fit into this category but let me just mention a few highlights. Celeste Lay, a political science professor, left Tulane after Katrina so that she and her husband Christopher Fettweis, also a political science professor, could get jobs near each other in New England. Now we are welcoming them both back home and hiring them in our political science department.

Michael Moore, a newly hired faculty member in our biomedical engineering department, says, “Tulane was one of a few universities that exemplified everything I was looking for, and something about moving here after the storm really intrigued my wife Lisa and me.”

We are delighted to have Michael and Lisa, as well as Felix Savoie, a new professor and director of the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine, Gabriele Sabbioni, a newly hired international scholar in environmental health sciences, and Tom Yeh, a newly hired pediatric cardiovascular surgeon. Again, these are just a few of the many new faculty stars who are staking their future at Tulane and adding to a needed “brain gain” in our city.

Equally impressive are the new students who are flocking to Tulane. As we eagerly await the arrival of our undergraduate freshman class in late August, 110 of the country˝s brightest minds representing 30 states have begun their medical residency training at Tulane’s School of Medicine. And, as of this week, the School of Medicine has enrolled 179 students, out of 6,800 applicants, who will begin classes on August 1. This select group of medical students represents all 50 states and some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions.

This is some of the good news that my fellow Fleur-de-Lis Ambassadors (http://www.fleurdelis.tulane.edu) and I have been sharing with members of the media and other opinion makers in major cities around the country. The word seems to be getting out as the clip from MSNBC below indicates. Please view it and continue to seize all the opportunity our wonderful city provides: http://tinyurl.com/26vs9e

Finally, as I did last summer, in the next few weeks I will provide you with an update of our financial situation. Once again, the news is very encouraging and bodes well for the future despite the challenges we continue to face.

Have a great weekend,